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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Day 81: A vacation from my to-do list

Woke up unable to move. The muscles in my back "pretzelized" in the night. The only position that was comfortable was lying down face up. So that's what I did all day. My mind first started making a to-do list.

Return the videos to the library

Read this book

Read that one

Write my pages

Go through magazines and catalogs

Call this person

Email that person

But I couldn't move. So none of it happened. I laid there and conceded that laying there was all I was going to be doing. Then I laid completely still and completely awake for hours. A new list emerged.

The beep of a truck in reverse

My neighbor's footsteps and keys jingling

Her dog barking happily

The roar of motorcycles and sports cars

The hum of a hybrid

A little girl telling her mom a story

Skateboarder

Hellish leaf blower

Repeat

Near the end of the day I was able to prop myself up enough to take care of the morning pages, but only because I said I would. Not because I wanted to. But, I must admit, today's morning pages were more fruitful than most. Perhaps it's because I decided to forgo my list of things to do. This was a good lesson. To let go of the to-do list. Try it. It feels good.